Urban legends, Las Vegas, and life in the U.S. Army are deftly captured in these stories by novelist John Irsfeld. With imagination bordering on the quirky or absurd, Irsfeld brings back to life a fictional character from Scott Fitzgerald’s
The Great Gatsby
and presents Elvis as alive and in hiding years after his reported death. “The Marriage Auditors” brings to mind George Orwell’s
1984
, only in this case it’s not Big Brother watching individuals but a team who monitor marriages and force the dissolution of those they deem unsuccessful.
Irsfeld also writes of life as he has known it. He has, for instance, lived in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip for years. In the Las Vegas stories, he looks at the city and sees a playground where little about life seems real. Tourists and residents alike operate in the sounds and shadows of the cards, the wheels, and the slots.
The army stories in this book spring from Irsfeld’s own experiences in the U. S. Infantry. With a thorough and probably hard-earned knowledge of army ways, he captures the reality of barracks life among men who may at any time find themselves sent to a far-off unfamiliar place called Vietnam. Several of the stories follow one man, eventually demonstrating the effect of the army on him when he becomes a civilian.
Irsfeld's view of America is not one of bucolic landscapes, happy families, or settled societies. During these times of wars and rumors of war, his tales fit our national life and express our fears and distractions.